Miami Vice
Miami Vice is a television series produced by Michael Mann for the NBC network. The show became noted for its heavy integration of music and visual effects to tell a story. The series starred Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas as two Miami-Dade (then known as Metro-Dade) detectives working undercover in Miami's drug and prostitution underworld. It ran for five seasons on NBC from September, 1984 through June, 1989, then the USA Network broadcast one unaired episode in January, 1990. A movie adaptation was released in July, 2006, with Colin Ferrell & Jamie Foxx in the title roles. Origin of Miami Vice The show was the idea of then-NBC program executive Brandon Tartikoff, who (per legend) wrote a memo on a napkin simply saying "MTV Cops" (referring to the success of the then-all video Music Television network). He presented the memo to Anthony Yerkovich, previously a writer and producer on another NBC police series, Hill Street Blues. Yerkovitch says the idea came from a recently-passed law allowing law enforcement to seize properties and ill-gotten gains (a law referenced in the episode "Golden Triangle (Part II)") of drug dealers for department use. Yerkovitch created his script, called Gold Coast, about two Miami vice cops. The title was changed to Miami Vice, ''and the setting to south Florida. Production The series was shot in Miami, despite threats to move shooting from the city later in the show's run due to high production costs, which added realism to the series. Production costs were around $1.3 million per episode, $.3 million more than most police series at the time. Keeping with the show's theme, the themes of the episodes revolved around drug dealers and their distributors, prostitution rings, and even counterfeiting. Most episodes ended with a spectacular gun battle resulting in the deaths of the antagonist(s) and/or numerous goons/helpers before being arrested. The underlying theme of the series is the "whack-a-mole" reality of drug cartels, as the detectives bring down one cartel there are several new ones to replace them. The series was one of the first to be broadcast in stereophonic sound, new to TV in the 1980's, which brought out the music (both background and pop) and made the series unique for its' time. The earliest episodes had many of the elements of a standard police procedural, but this was abandoned to allow for the show's distinctive style of cool dialogue, crisp images, and unexpected endings. Production values had a simple theme from Michael Mann: "No Earth Tones!" The visual appearance of the series was one of pastel colors in its' early seasons for both the actors and the scenes. The use of sports cars for both the police and bad guys gave the appearance of high wealth for all, the cinematography rivaled that of many movies. During production, much of the South Beach area was blighted with rundown buildings, homeless people, and crime. The production team went about restoring the buildings, most of them were Art Deco, by painting over the graffiti on them and fixing up dilapidated structures needed for certain scenes to achieve the shots and scenes needed. Casting Among the actors considered for the role of James "Sonny" Crockett were Gary Cole (who appeared in "Trust Fund Pirates"), Larry Wilcox (previously on ''CHiPs), and Nick Nolte (who declined due to his movie career). After going through numerous actors, Mann & Yerkovitch agreed on Johnson (who NBC didn't want due to his several recent failed pilots) and Thomas. Gregory Sierra (previously in the police comedy Barney Miller) was brought in as the Vice Lieutenant Lou Rodriguez (replaced after four episodes by Edward James Olmos due to Sierra not being happy in Miami), Michael Talbott & John Diehl were cast as Stan Switek and Larry Zito, the observers in the "Bug Van", and Saundra Santiago and Olivia Brown brought in as Gina Calabrese & Trudy Joplin, female police used as prostitution lures early on but later became an integral part of the team. Music See also: Music of Miami Vice Miami Vice ''was one of the first shows to incorporate popular music into the episodes at appropriate moments, complimented by background music performed by Jan Hammer (seasons 1-4) and Tim Truman (season 5) instead of using stock or made-for-TV music. Universal reportedly paid out around $10,000 per episode for the rights to use pop songs by artists ranging from U2, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, The Doors, Todd Rundgren, and many others. MCA Records released three soundtrack albums from the series: [[Miami Vice Soundtrack|''Miami Vice Soundtrack]] in 1985, which became the last TV soundtrack to reach #1 on the Billboard ''Top 200 Album Chart, [[Miami Vice II|''Miami Vice II]], released in 1986, and ''Miami Vice III'', released in 1988. Hammer released his own album, Miami Vice: The Complete Collection ''in 2002. During the show's heyday, ''USA Today published the song list for each Miami Vice episode, artists would clamor to get a song to appear on an episode, and American viewers were treated to music from some groups in Europe that had never had a song played in the US. Frequently cited as the show's hallmark scene is the "In The Air Tonight" sequence from the show's pilot, "Brother's Keeper", when Crockett & Tubbs drive through the Miami night to a drug deal. The heavy integration of pop music in the show would result in delays getting the show cleared for DVD release nearly 20 years later.